someone gave me a tub of optimum nutrition whey powder. Before you go telling me that this stuff is cheap crap and all that, listen to my question. There is an expiration date on the side that says 03/02. Can I still use this? What would go bad in powdered whey protein?
Well, here’s my penny’s worth of advice. Just like milk would go sour after expiration, my assumption is that it would have the same effect on whey. However, do bear in mind that whey powder is dry, unlike milk, hence it would not be affected by bacteria that quickly. Go by the smell of the product, and judge for yourself. If it is really bad, it would be rather obvious. However, my advice would be not to use the product. Nothin beats the pain of spending the night in the toilet having diarrhoea.
That stuff is pretty cheap. I would suggest buying a new tub and throwing that stuff out. You don’t know what was done to it in the years it remained unused. Heat, moisture…
Yes, use it. It may have lost 3% by now.
My brother used to work for a GNC and he gave me a couple boxes of Met-Rx MRP that was out of date. He said it would be good for about 6 months and then it would start to break down and lose its nutrient value…like the vits and minerals in the MRP would sorta fade away. I don’t know if this has any truth to it though. Anyone heard about this?
i would say it’s still o.k. if it still looks good, like not clumping up or anything. and i don’t care what people say, optimum is good protein ! (i’ve been drinking it for a hell of a long time) just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s crap. just because a protein is expensive, doesn’t mean it’s great.(here’s a hint people, look real hard into the companies that manufacture supplements, and pay attention to how much advertising their doing, there’s the overhead you’re paying for.) luckily i don’t see much advertizing from biotest, which keeps me buying their products.
i wouldn’t use it anymore…generally the dates are on the bottles are more of a sell by date than an end-all expiration. however since that has a march date on it and it’s already june you might want to trash it. i would generally say that it’s ok to use something within about 2 months or less of that date…possibly 3 months. come to think of it…it MIGHT still be ok. try it…if it makes you sick trash it or if it doesn’t mix up properly…trash it…otherwise use it as an excuse to go on a mega protein binge to use it up faster 
The protein powder should be ok for about 6 months. After that, some nutrient loss may occur. Big deal.
this has nothing to do with protein, but i’ve read an interesting story about the goverment throwing away litterally millions of dollars in medication (military use) because they had expired. ‘then’ they started to do tests on the medications and found out that their shelf-life is significally longer than what is printed on the bottles. for example, aspirin still had 90% of its potency even after 10 YEARS after its expiration date…kind of pisses me off… but the majority of medications print an expiration date of 2 years after manufacturing, the standard. some may last a lot longer than that.